Uber has just poached one of Apple’s senior engineering manager, who worked on both the company’s Maps app and its iPhone software, says subscription website The Information.

The senior iOS engineer in question, Chris Blumenberg, was among the first engineers to work on the iPhone’s software — joining Apple in 2000 initially to help Microsoft port Internet Explorer and Office over to Mac OS X.

The Information editor Jessica Lessin claims that three sources familiar with Blumenberg’s jump to Uber confirmed the situation with her.

Blumenberg’s move to Uber comes shortly after the transportation app startup was valued at a massive $17 billion. It is not known what he will be doing at the startup, but perhaps some new mapping software is on the way?

At Apple, Blumenberg was named on numerous patents related to iOS, many with Scott Forstall. His LinkedIn profile (where many of these patents can be seen) and Twitter account still reflect his job at Apple, so the move has yet to be 100 percent confirmed, but this is sounding very likely.

About the author

Luke Dormehl is a UK-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems, And Create More and The Apple Revolution, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme, and other publications. He'd like you a lot if you followed him on Twitter.

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